


Story Time

by obisgirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Wish Hook Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 00:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13624356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obisgirl/pseuds/obisgirl
Summary: A young Alice asks her papa about their family, which leads him to explain their complicated family tree and then must explain what happened to her mother?





	Story Time

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: Alice is 9. As far as the timeline of Killian’s family goes, Wish Hook does not know that his father started this other family with his second wife and that he has another brother. Wish Hook also does not the true circumstances of what made it possible for him and Liam to become free.

Alice, for the most part, has a normal and happy childhood growing up and Hook does the best he can to keep her entertained and most of all, know every day that she is loved and she is safe. Early on, he learns very quickly that it isn’t easy being a single parent. There are some things he is not quite equipped to handle but he looks at every day raising Alice as a challenge and she is quite the challenge.

She is a spunky, wild, happy and carefree little girl with a spirit all her own. Things start to get easier for Hook as Alice matures and less lonely once she learns how to talk. Time seems to move faster too once Alice starts talking and able to form sentences. She is a sponge, wanting to soak up everything that she can.

Then one day as Hook is almost ready to take an afternoon nap, Alice asks him to tell her about his family, or rather their family.

In all the time Hook has spent raising his daughter, he has never talked about his family.

That’s not entirely true.

She asked one time why her name is Alice and he explained to her about her grandmother and it felt like the only name appropriate to pass onto his sweet daughter, as well as a little about the woman herself. Other than that, he hasn’t talked much about the rest of his family. There’s just too much pain there to rehash. Pain over losing his mother, his father leaving him and Liam, losing Liam…

“Who were they, papa?” Alice asks, lying down on the floor and propping her elbows up to support her chin.

He sighs. “Our family is complicated, love,” he says, “And it’s nap time now Alice,”

Alice raises an eyebrow, a signature look she’s inherited from him. “Come on papa, please. I want to know,” she pleads, “I know about grandmum but what about everyone else?”

Hook reluctantly sits up from his makeshift hammock and comes to sit beside her on the floor. There isn’t a lot he can deny his daughter. “I guess the next person to start with would be your grandfather,” he says, “Brennan Jones,”

“What was he like? Did he look like you?” she queries.

Killian scratches his head. “From what I can remember of my father, he was no hero and never a real father to me, or your uncle Liam,” he recalls, “You see Alice after my mum died he took Liam and me on a voyage. It was our first trip traveling on the high seas. One night, your papa became afraid because we were in the middle of a terrible storm and then your grandpapa came into the cabin to comfort me. Him being there gave me the courage to be brave…”

Alice smiles at him slightly. “Then what happened?”

“I was able to sleep and eventually, the storm calmed but when I awoke, your grandpapa was gone. The ship's captain came to tell me he escaped during the storm, bought a rowboat and used your uncle and me as currency. He sold us into slavery. We became bound to that ship and whoever became its captain,”

Alice scowls. “I’m sorry, papa about grandpapa,” she says.

“That night on the ship was the last time I ever saw him. He mine as well have died in that storm, the karma for leaving his sons’ behind and forcing them into a situation like that,” he muses, “Now, your uncle Liam, he is a totally different story and to this day, I still consider him to be the best man I will ever know,”

“What was Uncle Liam like?”

It had been a long time since Killian reflected on what his brother Liam was like. “He looked out for me. We were stuck with each other after grandpapa left us behind, and Liam, he could have left too but he stayed because he knew it was important that we stay together. He was my compass. He kept me from destroying myself and giving into my darkest fears,” he recalls, “Your uncle Liam was a good man but he could be stubborn and narrow-minded sometimes,”

“Narrow-minded?”

“Maybe naive is a better word. What does _**naive**_ mean?”

Alice squints and tries to think. “A person who shows a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment,” she says after a moment.

“Very good,” he applauds her, “After another terrible storm, your uncle and I became the sole survivors of a wrecked ship and Liam also recovered a mythical jewel that ensured us a spot in the royal navy. We were free men for the first time in our lives, allowed to follow our own destiny and make something good of ourselves. Your uncle Liam eventually became Captain and I was his first lieutenant, the Jones Brothers, manning the fastest ship in the royal fleet,”

“ _The Jolly Roger_!!”

“That wasn’t her name yet,” he corrects, “Before she was _The Jolly Roger_ , she was _The Jewel of the Realm_ and Liam was her Captain. We sailed to many places, encountered different peoples and helped bring peace and prosperity to the kingdom and we served, we believed that we served, a good and noble king,”

“The king was not good?”

“He sent Liam and me on a top secret mission to retrieve a plant from a faraway land. He claimed that the plant was medicine to help fallen soldiers but the plant was not medicine, it was a poison. Our king lied to us about its purpose and that lie cost Liam his life. I lost him twice on that voyage, first in Neverland and then a second time once we returned home,”

Alice sits up and puts her hand in Hook’s hand. Hook looks down at his daughter’s hand and he smiles at her. “If you don’t to continue the story, you don’t have too,” she says.

“I appreciate that love but talking about it, is oddly cathartic for me,” he confesses, “What does _cathartic_ mean?”

She looks down at her papa’s hand and then looks at him, “Soothing,” she says.

“Aye,” he confirms, “The day I had to bury my brother at sea was one of the saddest days of my life. As painful as it was to lose Liam, his death also served a purpose. His death showed me our king’s true colors, that he was not a good and righteous man and I could not, in good conscious continue serving a man who was dishonorable and used lies to get people to follow him,”

“So you rebranded _The Jewel of the Realm_ as _The Jolly Roger_ and you became it’s pirate Captain,” she says.

“That I did lass, and I found a new freedom; a freedom to live on my own terms and travel where we please whenever we wanted to,”

Alice glances towards the window briefly. Killian sighs and asks that she look at him. “And one day Alice, you will be able to do the same thing too,” he promises.

“I do already,” she beams, “I travel through the stories you tell me. That’s why I like hearing them so much,”

“Would you like to hear more?”

“Yes,” she cries, her eyes shining with excitement.

“Seeing the world is a big adventure but it can get lonely without someone to share those travels with. Liam had been my constant companion since grandpapa left us and as much as the crew had become family too, I didn’t have close confidants among them...until Milah,”

“Milah was...everything to me. She was beautiful, witty, a curious and adventurous spirit and the love of my life. She was my pirate queen and we loved each other very much. But there was always a bit of sadness because she left her family to be with me. She had a young son that she always regretted leaving but she hated his father and the person that he had become. I ended up hating him too because he took her from me and he left me with this,” he says, holding up his hook, “The Dark One destroyed my life and I became consumed with revenge,”

“Your life became a dark place,” she observes, “What changed that?”

Hook tilts his head and fixes his daughter’s hair. “You did puppet,” he says, “You changed everything for me, for the better,”

“I made your heart better?”

“You did,” he confirms, “I gave up my ship and my revenge to give you a better life because that’s what you deserved. I still have so many hopes and dreams for you, Alice,”

She smiles at him. “I do too papa,” she cries, “Papa, one more question and if you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to---”

“What is it, love?”

“What happened to mama?” she asks.

Hook sighs. “Your mother is a complicated woman,” he manages.

“Complicated?”

“It’s difficult to explain but she was not the woman I thought she was when I met her,” he continues, “She used magic and lies to deceive me, and I know it might seem impossible but magic was a part of your conception,”

“Magic was a part of my conception? Does that mean I have magic?!” she asks excitedly.

Hook shakes his head, looking at her. “I don't know if you do but you're certainly magic to me Alice,” he says.

Alice sees how he tries to change the subject before she got her excited about the possibility of magic and then she remembers the lies and deceit.

“How did mama lie to you, papa?” she asks.

“The first time I met her..I was quite taken with her beauty. I never saw what was beneath until it was too late,” he recalls, “And when I met the real her and realized why she did what she did, I couldn't go with her in good faith..”

“And leave me?” Alice finishes.

“Mothers are supposed to be there for their children, to love and nurture them but your mother Alice is no mother. I’m sorry to say that she barely gave you a second thought after you were born,” he says.

Alice looks down sadly, glancing again at the window. “I’m stuck here because of her, aren't I?”

“Aye,” he says, “But all curses can be broken love; you need only to believe,”

“Mama is not a good person,”

“She definitely is not, she’s a witch and that is not a metaphor. She is a witch, truly,” he says.

“I know what she did to was awful but do you think there is a part of her that is good? Even a small bit?” she ventures, “Aren’t most people made up of good and bad parts?”

Hook sighs. “Some but not everyone,” he asserts, “Your mother, from what I have seen, does not appear to have any good in her,”

“Do you think bad is in me? Maybe I inherited some of her wickedness?” she wonders.

“Why the bloody hell would you think that?”

She shrugs. “Sometimes I do bad things and you scold me for doing them,” she reasons.

“And you immediately realize your mistake and apologize for it because you know it was wrong. That’s not bad Alice. That’s being good,” he says, “You are good, through and through. Your mother is not and trust me, you have inherited nothing from her. You are my sweet Alice, and have nothing to worry about,”

“I must have blond hair like her,”

“Blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes but your heart Alice, that beautiful, kind and loving heart, that is all you and part of your papa,” he reminds her, “Remember that love,”

“Aye,” she promises, smiling at him and then yawns.

“Alright, I think story time is over and it’s nap time for both of us,” he says and scoops her up, carrying her over to her bed and tucks her in, “Goodnight Alice,”

“Goodnight,” she yawns, “I’m sorry if I caused you pain papa,”

“What are you talking about now love?”

“Making you remember some bad memories,” she says.

Hook gently touches her head and runs his fingers through her curls. “Some of my memories are painful Alice but there are also happy ones too. My happiest memories are the ones I have raising you here in this tower, our little home. It's like what we were talking about earlier; good and bad. They are extremes but they can also coexist. What does that _coexist_ mean, love?”

“Last word?” she asks.

“Pirate’s promise,”

“Live peacefully at the same time,”

“Aye,” he confirms, “This world has good and bad in it because that's how we all are. Your heart determines the kind of person you want to be. Your mother is a bad person who made bad decisions for her own personal reasons but her actions do not define who you are or who you will become. That is all up to you. Do you understand that, love?”

“Yes, papa,”

“Good lass,” he says and kisses her forehead, “Night my little pirate,”

Alice smiles at him and closes her eyes.

Hook fixes her blanket and then goes over to his hammock, taking one last peek at the tower window before shutting his eyes.

Gothel is never coming back, not for him and certainly not for Alice. She is long gone and Hook hopes that Alice will never meet her mother; but if she must one day, he will be there to protect her from whatever foul plan she has in mind for her.

The End

 


End file.
